Could having long hair be linked to having increased perception? According to one anecdote uncovered by Scott McMan on Ghost Theory it may very well be, at least that is supposedly what the US Army thought during Viet Nam.

The story goes that faced with fighting in inhospitable terrain that was familiar to their foe, the US Army turned to Native American trackers to help find the enemy. Undercover recruitment teams were sent to reservations across the country to find the best trackers available, and they did. There was only one problem. Once enlisted, the trackers seemed to lose their ability to track. When questioned about their failure to perform, the recruits replied that their intuition was no longer reliable after receiving their military hair cuts. With no other possible explanation for why expert trackers suddenly were useless, the Army performed a series of tests. Trackers were separated into pairs and one member of the team received a short military cut, while the other retained their long hair. Consistently the tracker with short hair failed to perform while the other excelled at every test. Based on the results of this testing, the Army required all Native trackers to have long hair. While I can’t say if this is true or not, it does make you think.

Interestingly enough, according to Wikipedia, throughout history short hair has been used to control. In fact, prior to World War One longer hair and beards were far more common among western men. During the war (and the Second World War) much of the male population was indoctrinated the vary disciplined and controlled military life. With this subservience came shorter hair. These global conflicts spawned today’s military industrial complex which many claim controls the world. One could postulate that there is a vested interest in keeping the population’s hair shorter to make it easier to control. Even women’s hair styles seem to be growing shorter on average. If longer hair is linked to enhanced perception then it would make sense that it would be easier to control a group by limiting their awareness (think blinders on horses).

What do you think? Is our ability to be aware of the world around us helped or hampered depending on the length of our hair? Is modern fashion being manipulated to create a more submissive population? Share your thoughts in the comments.